Revenge
by CF-fanfiction
Summary: Sonic and Shadow are fighting, and Sonic is trying to kill. Why? And is it really Shadow's fault? (blood, death, the usual) (COMPLETE)


Chaos: Ok, this is just a short story for people waiting for the Maze of Memories.  
  
Flower: Yeah, I've got really bad writer's block, and all the angsty stuff I normally put into fics is going to waste...well, here we go!  
  
..........................................................  
  
Sonic finally skidded to a halt, panting. Far below the mountainside, the lights of Central City twinkled in the late afternoon light, but Sonic wasn't looking.  
  
"It ends here, Shadow!" he cried furiously.  
  
The black hedgehog in question was backed up against the edge of the cliff. It was a precarious situation. Behind: An endless drop into the river far below. In front: Sonic, mad with rage.  
  
His eyes flicked about for some means of escape, sorely wishing he had brought a Chaos Emerald with him. It wasn't that he was scared of Sonic; it was that either one of them could end up dead, and he wasn't sure it would be his rival.  
  
Not when he was this mad.  
  
The blue hedgehog's fur was on end, and his eyes glittered with anger.  
  
"Sonic, listen to m-"  
  
"No, Shadow! I've seen enough!"  
  
"But I didn't d-"  
  
"Shut up, faker!"  
  
"LET ME FINISH!"  
  
"NO!"  
  
With that, Sonic charged. Shadow tensed until the last minute, then jumped up and around. Sonic skidded to a halt, teetering on the very edge. For one second fear clutched at him, then he spun around and hopped to safety.  
  
Then he ran at Shadow again. The black hedgehog dodged to the side, but Sonic swerved and they collided, rolling over and over towards the edge in a cloud of dust. Shadow kicked out, but Sonic clung like a leech and thumped him in the face.  
  
Shadow paused for a second, dazed, and Sonic rolled on top of him and hit him in the eye. Shadow cried out and managed to throw Sonic off. He leapt to his feet, panting heavily.  
  
Sonic faced him, a maniacal grin on his face, and for a moment Shadow thought, he's crazy! And then Sonic charged him again.  
  
They stayed locked together for longer this time, and when Shadow finally managed to throw him off he could taste blood, feel it running down his face from his nose and a cut on his forehead.  
  
Sonic was bleeding from one ear, and one eye was bruised almost shut, but he still advanced, grinning.  
  
"Sonic...stop it!"  
  
"Whassamatter, Shadow? Chicken?" Sonic's words were slurred slightly, and a mad gleam shone in his good eye. Shadow found himself backing away despite himself, and knew that Sonic wouldn't stop until one of them was dead.  
  
Desperate, he looked over the blue hedgehog's shoulder and saw a red blur climbing steadily towards their pinnacle. Knuckles! If he could just hold Sonic off a little longer than they cou-  
  
He had forgotten to concentrate. Sonic barrelled into him and he almost fell. His strength was fading, and Sonic seemed to be powered by some strange energy. Even as he stumbled up Sonic curled and spindashed towards him.  
  
He had no time to dodge, and cried out in agony as the ball of spines slashed at him. He hit the ground and Sonic spun away to one side. He was cut all over and it stung like a thousand nettles.  
  
Sonic loomed over and grabbed him by the throat. He choked and clawed at Sonic's gloved hand, seeing stars, and panic flooded him as Sonic hauled him into the air with no apparent difficulty.  
  
Behind the insane gleam, he could see steely rage in Sonic's eyes. The blue hedgehog's voice was a hiss.  
  
"Suffer!"  
  
Shadow pulled at the hand around his throat desperately. He could faintly see Knuckles, only halfway towards them.  
  
Toolatetoolatetoolate!  
  
Sonic punched him hard in the stomach and he convulsed as waves of pain spread through him. "S-Sonic..."  
  
"Suffer!"  
  
Sonic was hitting him again and again, his vision was a red haze, and he was stuggling automatically, though it did no good against Sonic's vice- like grip. He might have passed out then, when Sonic started hitting him in the face, but when he opened his eyes and tried to look again they were moving and he could see the mountain over Sonic's shoulder.  
  
That meant...  
  
They were walking towards the edge.  
  
The dreadful realisation gave him new strength, and he gasped out, "Sonic...don't..."  
  
"You will die for what you did, Shadow!"  
  
"I didn-"  
  
"Still denying it?" then he brought his face even closer, so Shadow was looking straight into his eyes, could feel the hedgehog's angry breathing on his face. "Tails...was...my best...friend."  
  
Sonic's voice was cold, and Shadow knew that he would get no more reasoning from the hedgehog. The blue hedgehog's grip had tightened and he was choking for air. Then his feet left the ground and he was kicking frantically over emptiness.  
  
"Any last words, faker?"  
  
It was a cruel joke. Shadow could hardly breathe, let alone talk. Sonic was grinning madly again, loving Shadow's pain. The black hedgehog could just see Knuckles, dashing up the short path towards them, and knew he would never make it in time.  
  
Sonic suddenly let go and Shadow was falling, and let out a terrified scream...and then he caught at the rock ledge with one hand, panting in fear and unable to take his eyes from the blue hedgehog before him.  
  
The rock wall curved away sharply before their pinnacle and was out of reach. Sonic was laughing, actually laughing, at him. He knelt down and pulled back one of Shadow's fingers with a sickening crack.  
  
Shadow whimpered as Sonic pulled back another. At any moment his grip would fail and he would fall, fall to his doom...  
  
He was only holding on with two fingers now, and slipping more every second. Sonic leaned down towards him and whispered, "Suffer!"  
  
Then he stood, raised one foot, and stamped on Shadow's hand.  
  
There came a point where Shadow honestly wondered why he hadn't just jumped off the edge earlier, and saved Sonic the trouble of beating him up. It would have given him a small chance at survival, at the least.  
  
As it was, it took all his effort to remain concious as he saw Sonic growing smaller and smaller and the hedgehog was actually waving and he was falling and falling and knew he would die and wanted to at least face it and turned to look down and the river was nearer than he had thought and rushing towards him and he could hear himself screaming and the heaving waters closed over his head and everything was turning black and he knew he was innocent and it wasn't fair and he couldn't think couldn't move couldn't see couldn't breathe...  
  
...........................................................  
  
"Oh, Sonic, what have you done?"  
  
Knuckles' voice was quiet with shock and disbelief. Sonic was standing at the edge, one hand still outstretched, his heavy breathing the only sound between them. Then he turned slowly, and said,  
  
"I...did it. I killed him."  
  
Knuckles shook his head sadly. "Sonic, you got it wrong. He didn't kill Tails..." Sonic's fur began to bristle again.  
  
"Oh? So, when I came home and went to visit Tails, and walked into the kitchen and saw him just lying there, and all the blood everywhere, and Shadow was standing over him with a knife? He didn't do it? So who did?"  
  
Sonic's voice was slowly changing, becoming more scared, the first touch of real panic in his eyes. Knuckle knew he was starting to wonder if he'd made a terrible, terrible, mistake.  
  
Knuckles sighed, shoulders sagging. "No, Sonic. Shadow came to see what the noise was, in the kitchen. He saw Tails and the knife and picked it up to see if he could work out who did it...then you came in, and he had to run for it."  
  
Sonic was shaking his head, one hand over his mouth. "No...no..." He dropped to his hands and knees, shaking with horror. "He...was innocent? I...killed...him..." For a long moment there was silence between them.  
  
Knuckles walked over, and his voice was hard. "Yes, you did." Then suddenly Sonic tensed up, because Knuckles would never say that, he would have been more comforting and something was very wrong.  
  
"How...did you know what happened?" he looked up in sudden suspicion, and Knuckles smiled thinly.  
  
"Ah, not so stupid as you look, eh Sonic?"  
  
"You...you did it?"  
  
Knuckles grinned, showing his sharp teeth.  
  
"And what if I did?"  
  
Sonic scrambled to his feet and started to back away. "You killed Tails! W- Why?"  
  
Knuckles shook his head. "Sonic, you're always the hero." Sonic's ears flattened in dread.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Knuckles eyes were shining with an insane light. "Everything I've ever done, ever helped you with, who gets the credit? You. Who helped train Emerl? Me...but you never even said thanks. Who helped you defeat Metal Sonic? Me. You would have been lost without my strength. I helped you out on ARK, with Chaos, with everything you've ever done. And you," his voice was getting faster, and more accusing, "You never even say thanks. You laugh and trick me, you think I like it?"  
  
Sonic's jaw had dropped in disbelief. "But...you...the Master Emerald..." Knuckles ignored him completely, grinning widely. Sonic realised, with horror, that he had grinned just the same way at Shadow.  
  
"I don't need you...but you can't possibly get along without me. And everyone's always, 'Hooray! It's Sonic and Tails! They're so wonderful!' and you know what? I'm sick of it. I want to get credit for what I've done!"  
  
He was advancing upon Sonic now, and when the hedgehog looked over his shoulder the edge was looming. "Knuckles...killing me will only make you more unpopul-"  
  
"Oh? Who said I'm going to kill you? Who says you're even going to die? Why, you might just...go missing. You know, this is turning out even better than I hoped."  
  
"What about Eggman? How're you going to stop him fro-"  
  
"Sonic, I've told you already. I don't need you! With the Chaotix and the Master Emerald, I will be the hero. Everyone will like me, not you! You, who deserted them all." Knuckles was laughing.  
  
Sonic was running out of options. "Please, Knuckles...don't-" Then Knuckles lunged at him, fists outstretched and a hungry light in his eyes.  
  
"Say goodbye, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic was wobbling on the edge, Knuckles was within inches of him. He had killed Tails, Sonic realised suddenly, and pushing him off a cliff wouldn't be any more difficult.  
  
Some of his old fury returned and he lashed out at the echidna. Knuckles leaped onto him without heeding it, and suddenly Sonic overbalanced. Instinctively he grabbed at Knuckles' dreadlocks to save himself, and they both plunged over the edge.  
  
The echidna cried out in surprise, and immediately stretched into a glide, sonic clinging to him. "Let go!" he cried angrily. Sonic clung on grimly; he wouldn't let go for anything.  
  
Knuckles started thinking. He could glide to safety; but Sonic would escape. Tell everyone what a murderer he was. On the other hand, he could just glide into the river. He wasn't a bad swimmer...but Sonic might survive too.  
  
There was only one choice.  
  
He raised his arms sharply, and the glide broke off. Sonic yelped in surprise and they both started falling, faster and faster and faster, and Knuckles' eyes were shut in anticipation, and Sonic was screaming in terror, until a second collosal splash broke the surface of the water.  
  
...........................................................  
  
Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles were never seen again.  
  
...........................................................  
  
Chaos: O.O  
  
Flower: O.O Did we just write that?  
  
Chaos: ...guess all the missed torture in Maze of Memories 2 went into this. Jesus...  
  
Flower: Wow, Knuckles sure is crazy!  
  
Chaos: All the characters were OOC, to a point. You know, Sonic being crazy at the beginning, Shadow getting beaten up, (hmm...) Knuckles going all jealous, Tails...err...being dead...O.O  
  
Flower: Well, err, review and tell me what you think! Go ahead and flame if you...really want to... 


End file.
